Fun House
by Whovian of a Thousand Words
Summary: The answers were right there, but I missed them. Everyone did. They weren't obvious at first. But then we all knew. By that time, though, he was too far gone. And we were in too deep. My name is Karkat Vantas. And this is my story. It's about the beginning of the end. This is the story of the Fun House. **AU / M for a reason / Cover art credit to Andrew Hussie**
1. Author's Note

**Part 1 – Author's Note**

_How did this happen?_

It was a question I asked myself many times on that fateful night all those years ago. And trust me when I say that it is not a night I recall with any sort of fondness. That night was the beginning. It was how the horror started. It was how I returned to my hive, covered in blood and sobbing like a wriggler. That night, I became afraid of the dark. I began jumping at that sound. And I lost, well... everyone.

At this point, you might already know who I am. And you might not. That's alright. I changed a lot that night. And the losses of everyone who went in were what sparked those changes. I learned about life and death and I learned how to live. Most importantly, however, I learned how to cope.

Before we begin, I'm going to spoil the ending. Yes, that's right. I'm going to tell you who the killer was before I've even begun the story. Maybe this way, you can figure out what happened. Maybe you can find what went wrong. What we missed.

So, here it goes:

It was Gamzee Makara.

In the end, I realize now, it only could've been Gamzee. And I was so blind to that. The answers were right there, but I missed them. Everyone did. They weren't obvious at first. But then we all knew. By that time, though, he was too far gone. And we were in too deep.

My name is Karkat Vantas.

And this is my story. It's about the beginning of the end.

This is the story of the Fun House.

* * *

**Prepare for some dark, gruesome, scary stuff. No idea how long this will be. It's just going to go where ever it takes me. The chapters won't have a set length, they'll just be as long as they need to be to get the point across. That being said, some chapters might be shorter or longer than others. When shorter chapters happen, I'll probably put up two a day.**

**I know this is an odd way of starting a horror/mystery, by revealing the killer and spoiling the mystery, but the true enigma is in what happened from the beginning to the end. If this doesn't work the way I want, then it'll probably be a total flop.**

**Oh well! It's worth a shot! Please review!**

**(Cover art by Andrew Hussie, from this page in Homestuck: www . mspaint adventures [dot com backslash] ?s =6&p= 005359. I added the letters.)**


	2. The Day Before

**Part 2 – The Day Before**

_Now. How did this start. Oh yes, that's right. It was a bet. Yep. A stupid bet made by a couple of stupid kids who were fighting over who was right. They were being, well, kids. None of them could've known how it was going to turn out. No one knew about the outcome. Then again, as I look back, it was Gamzee who proposed the bet. Even now, I often question the troll I once considered a friend. Was he already insane then? Did he know at that time? Had he planned any of it? Those questions, I fear, will remain questions. The answers died with Gamzee. _

_That morning, it happened to be my wriggling day. I was six solar sweeps. I was running to the Inner Moor, where the younger trolls would play games for the amusement of their elders. The Moor was vacant that day, as I recall, of any formal match. Gamzee had gathered himself and our ten other friends to play a game in celebration of my 'coming-of-age' (so to speak). And I was late._

Karkat felt like his chest was going to burst as he ran to the Moor. He couldn't believe he had lost track of time so easily. Late to his own wriggling day celebration? Gog, he was never going to hear the end of it from Vriska and Terezi.

_Vriska Serket and Terezi Pyrope. Those two I remember with mixed feelings. They were a couple of girl trolls who might as well have been sisters and the agents of chaos. They were despicable. Vriska was a headache with legs. Terezi... Well. Let's just say that I didn't mind Terezi's antics as much._

"Well, well! Look who decided to crawl out of his slime pit just in time to get his sorry ass over here!" Vriska cackled, showing off her prominent fangs, from where she sat on the grassy fields. Like all trolls, she was horned, raven-haired, yellow-eyed and gray skinned with a natural callous tongue. Her glasses sat perched on the bridge of his nose, her vision eight-fold eyes glaring into Karkat's head with smug laughter. The eye with the seven pupils never ceased to creep Karkat out slightly. Her horns were tall, shaped like a stinger and pincer. She wore a gray jacket with one of the arms ripped off. For whatever reason.

Terezi joined in the laughter. "Jegus, Karkat, late to your own wriggling day celebration? That's just pitiful!" She was smaller than Vriska with shorter hair and horns. Terezi's however, were very sharp and pointed. She looked at me from over her red sunglasses _(To this day, I still have those glasses). _She was smiling a nasty smile as well, her many pointed teeth glittering in the afternoon light.

"Not as pitiful as your disgusting attempts to be on the same rung of your echeladder as me!" Karkat shot back, his rebuttal very clearly not up to par with his usual.

As Terezi opened her mouth to no doubt point this miserable failure out, Gamzee sauntered over. "What's goin' on, my brother?" He drawled to Karkat in his slow, deep voice. Gamzee's long, thin and slightly curved horns arched towards the sky, battling for supreme height with his wild ebony hair. His spotted pants and harlequin makeup managed to make everyone uneasy. But Karkat didn't really mind the clown-like appearance of his troll friend. Gamzee's eyes were always slightly glazed over with the eyelids drooping. The troll was high off his ass almost all the time.

"Just putting these wrigglers in their place," Karkat said.

"Shut the fuck up, Karkat, we're older than you!" Vriska hissed.

_Needless to say, this argument went back and forth for a little while before Gamzee finally managed to get all of the gathered trolls organized and somewhat quiet. While I was the youngest, the last to reach six sweeps, Gamzee was the oldest, but he wasn't in charge of anything save this game. Though his blood was a noble purple, he didn't act it at all. The day Gamzee Makara acted like Eridan Ampora (the second most royal of our group) was the day that I'd eat my own horns. I can remember them all standing there around me as if it weren't over twenty-four sweeps ago that the event occurred. _

_Aradia Megido: Tall and mysterious with hair longer than Vriska's and beautifully curled horns. She lined her eyes and lips with ruby red that day. She could speak to ghosts._

_Tavros Nitram: Wheelchair bound with a mohawk and horns so large that they were longer than he was tall when they were placed end to end. He believed in fairies._

_Sollux Captor: He was dual horned on either side and bespectacled with red and blue lensed glasses. His shoes didn't match, I remember that._

_Nepeta Leijon: Short bouncy hair covered by a blue cat-like hat. Her pointed, triangular horns poked out of the hat like ears. Her green overcoat was much too large for her._

_Kanaya Maryam: Spikey, sculpted hair. One horn was over the average height and curve, while the other was bent and slightly shorter. That day, I remember she wore a red skirt._

_Equius Zahhak: His cracked, smeared shades hid his eyes from view and made him even creepier. One of his arrow-like horns was broken off and he was missing several teeth._

_Eridan Ampora: Styled hair with a purple wave up the front. Fish fronds on either side of his face, large glasses, and wavy horns. He wore a long purple cape, striped pants, and a scarf. _

_Feferi Peixes: Empress-to-be. She had long hair swept back over her scalp and horns that curved out. She loved colorful skirts. Green and blue that day. She had fronds too. And goggles._

_Terezi and Vriska stood on either side of Kanaya, and Gamzee stood next to me. I, who was plainly dressed with nubby horns and flyaway hair._

_Though I can recall everyone to exact detail, I don't remember what started the fight. Well, it wasn't really a fight per say. More like Eridan getting extremely annoyed with Gamzee. Shocker, right? What I do remember was what lead to the bet._

"Clam the motherfuck down, bro," Gamzee said, a serene smile on his lips. "Like what I did there? I said clam 'cause I know you like fish puns." Feferi beamed behind Eridan's back. Gamzee shot her a wink. The caped troll grit his teeth in rage.

"I'm gettin' really sick and tired of your shit, Gamzee!" He snarled. "You're weak! Spineless! You are of regal blood and yet you act like a pathetic land-dweller!" Karkat felt his own recipe of anger start to boil. Eridan didn't seem to think it was necessary to hide his clear hatred of anyone who wasn't hatched underwater. The troll was very racist. Why the group kept him around, Karkat didn't know.

Feferi took hold of Eridan's arm. "Oh glub, Eridan, please be friendly. Gamzee is as Gamzee does," she smiled and fluttered her eyes at Eridan. _Oh yeah._ Karkat thought. _That's why we keep the caped annoyance around. Feferi._

Meanwhile, the clown-troll was as calm as ever. "Yeah, I'm pretty motherfuckin' awful at being royalty, ain't I?" He laughed. A slow, drawn out sound. "But I'm much less of a coward than you, Fish-Fucker."

Eridan's eyes blazed with hatred and fury. "How dare you insult me!" He hissed. "You... you of my same blood caste! How DARE you even think—!"

"Actually, yeah, I did dare," Gamzee interjected as he scratched the back of his head, clearly bored. "That'd probably be why I dropped that phrase, bro." He didn't seem the least bit bothered that the regal troll was probably about to snap and clock him straight in the jaw. "Alright then. How about this fly beat: If you're not a motherfuckin' coward, prove you aren't."

Eridan simmered down slightly. His anger moved aside to make room for confusion. "And just how do you propose I do that?" He asked with venom still edging about his voice.

The smile that crossed Gamzee's lips in that moment was borderline sinister. "Spend a night in the old, abandoned circus arena. In the fun house to be exact." There was a collective breath taken by the members of the on looking trolls. The fun house was scary enough during the day. The fun house at night? Fuck that shit. "Tell ya what though, man. Only the bravest motherfuckers would do that shit. It'd be a motherfuckin' miracle if you could do it, bro. Just saying," Gamzee was very obviously egging Eridan on, Karkat could easily see that.

And Eridan, pardon the fish pun, was biting the bait. A confident smile, filled with jagged teeth, crossed the caped troll's lips. "I can accept this challenge," his unsure voice betrayed his cocky attitude. "Shall we place a wager? Let's say... One hundred thousand boonbucks."

Gamzee laughed loudly. "Shit, fish breath, I'm not motherfuckin' made of money! Bring that fucker down to four hundred and thirteen boonbucks that say you can't stay a night and you got yourself a straight up deal." They shook on it. "Alright, fish breath. Gotta set down some sweet guidelines and shit. Number one. We all gotta be there. All twelve of us."

There was a chorus of angry outbursts at that rule, but Eridan held his scaly hand up for silence. "Those are the rules," he said through gritted teeth. "Abide by them or you will be sorry." At that point, no one was willing to cross Eridan. Not even Vriska made a smart-ass remark.

The clown continued, "Second. We're all gonna break into teams like the sweet verses of the most intense motherfuckin' slam poetry you ever heard. We'll draw our names from a bottle of Faygo or some wicked shit.

"Third. No one. And I mean NO One. Leaves the motherfuckin' fun house 'til morning." Gamzee looked at everyone there with a stare so intense that no one dared argue. "I think that's enough rules. If I come up with more, I'll broadcast that to your earholes when we get there." Without another word, Gamzee turned and began to walk away, his hands clasped around the back of his head.

"Wait!" Eridan yelled after him. Gamzee turned slightly to look at him. "When shall this night be spent?"

Gamzee's chilling, almost-sinister-but-not-quite smile worked its way back to his lips. "When else, bro? Motherfuckin' tonight. At sun down."

* * *

**So if it wasn't extremely obvious from the blunt statement of so in the summary and the content of this chapter... THIS. IS. AN. AU. STORY. It wouldn't work if it wasn't AU. You don't like it? Go read something else. I don't want to deal with your flames. **

**So what do you guys think? Please tell me!**

**Do you have ideas for the story? Please leave them in the review box! I'll see if I can use them and credit you if I do.**

**We enter next chapter. Then the real fun begins.**


	3. Night Fall

**Part 3 – Night Fall**

Karkat stood with the other trolls outside the entrance to the circus complex. Gamzee had gone to pick the lock off the door to the fun house. They were waiting on one member of the group to show up. Eridan. The sun was quickly dunking below the northern sky. The Prince's time was running short. Vriska chuckled darkly. "Knew he didn't have the fronds for this," she said to anyone who would listen. "Eridan's all talk, no testicles." Equius muttered vaguely that he needed a towel and began to look in his sylladex for one. Vriska shot him a disgusted look.

"The Prince comes now," Aradia said in her hollow voice. She pointed to the west. "Observe." All horned heads turned to see the caped troll walking towards them with a pained look on his face. When he reached them, however, he had wiped his countenance of any emotion except vague amusement. "You are late, Eridan," Aradia chastised him.

Eridan laughed jeeringly at her. "Your sense of time is quite askew, land-dwelling low-blood," Karkat noticed Sollux's eyes spark with red and blue energy and Equius flex his powerful arms upon hearing the jab at Aradia's blood rank. _Wait, Equius?_ _Strange._ "I was told to be here at sun down, yes?" He turned and watched as the sun at last vanished under the ground. With a smirk, he turned back to Aradia. "I would say that I am right on time, wouldn't you?"

She said nothing in reply, but merely turned from the caped troll and walked away to stand beside Sollux. He put an arm around her shoulders and made the 'I'm watching you' gesture to Eridan. Eridan returned the gesture with a more obscene one. Out of the corner of his eye, Karkat saw Equius turn away in frustration from the sight of Sollux and Aradia. _Very strange indeed_.

"We all motherfuckin' here?"

Gamzee jumped down from the archway of the arena and landed nicely in front of the group. He smiled wickedly at Eridan. "'Bout time you showed, fish breath," he drawled. "I was starting to think you didn't have any motherfuckin' balls."

Eridan returned the dark grin. "Don't be absurd, jester," he said loftily. "I'm precisely on time."

"Then what're we waiting for, motherfucker?"

That was actually a decent question. But Eridan didn't answer it.

"Let's go have some motherfuckin' fun," Gamzee said, spreading his arms and gesturing towards the direction of the fun house. His sinister smile was back. "Motherfuckin' honk, my brothers and sisters," he laughed. "Honk, honk! HONK!"

* * *

_I know what you're thinking. _

_Why didn't we think that his maniacal laughter and repeated honks were strange? That was normal Gamzee. The Gamzee we had known and loved/hated for sweeps. It wasn't strange to us. It was just idiotic. Now that I consider it, that was probably one of his tools to force us into a false sense of security. Though he didn't show it very often, Gamzee Makara was quite smart. He knew things. He saw everything. And it was the act of him playing dumb that must've been one of the things we overlooked. But was he crazy at that time? My question still stands and will forever remain unanswered:_

_When did Gamzee Makara snap?_

* * *

Karkat nervously looked up at the fun house. It was dilapidated and hung over to one side, climbing several floors high into the air. The windows were boarded up; broken glass littered the ground. Wind whistled through the hollow points of the house, rustled the long dead grass that grew around the steps, the shutters clattered against the walls and the house creaked and groaned with age: coming together to form an ominous, ghostly orchestra. The front doors were thrown open and waiting, as if the house was expecting the twelve young trolls to come and visit. Karkat couldn't help but steal a glance at Eridan; which, as it turned out, everybody had thought of doing. The young Prince's already pale face looked even more so the longer he looked at the house. Gamzee, however, was at ease.

"You motherfuckin' going in or am I gonna have to carry you like the wriggler we all know you are?" He asked, casually picking at the stray string that was fraying off his shirt.

Eridan ground his jagged teeth and regarded his fellow royal with the deepest loathing. "Be silent, jester. I am assessing my surroundings. All good generals do this when—"

There was a collective groan. "Eridan... Oh my Gog," Vriska face palmed.

"You aren't a stupid war general!" Sollux moaned in frustration. "Can you get a fucking move on already? I want this night to be over much faster than this."

"Yeah, c'mon, Eridan hurry your ass up!" Terezi added.

"We shall all have reached a ripe old age before you've even taken your first fucking step into that stupid house, fish breath," Karkat said. "I'm the youngest troll here and yet I manage to have more guts than you. You're just presenting yourself to be a bigger fucking asshole than we previously thought."

The caped troll glared at all of them in one sweeping motion, but let his gaze linger on Karkat in obvious disdain. "If you would all kindly shut your land-dwelling noise holes, I might take it upon myself to move faster!"

"Eridan, get up those Gogdamn steps and into that Gogdamn house or so help me, I will slice you in fucking half with my chainsaw," Kanaya said. Her voice remained at a steady, low tone. She wasn't kidding around. She never did when it came to her chainsaw.

That put some spring into the fish-troll's step. Soon they were all trooping up the stairs (or in Tavros's case, wheeling up the ramp Gamzee was kind enough to bring in his sylladex) and making their way through the dark atrium of the fun house. "And then Gog said," a fire struck in front of them and lit several candles, "let there be motherfuckin' light." Shadows danced eerily off Gamzee's harlequin makeup and made the dark parts seem deeper and gaunter. His smile stretched all the way across his face, and the lighting didn't help make that any less creepy. "Got some sweet ass candles for every troll who want one of these bad boys," Gamzee said, giving each troll a sweet ass candle and a lighter.

As the room came into better light, Nepeta whimpered slightly and shied away from the bizarre decorations on the walls. Feferi clung to Eridan, who had drawn one of his many [wandkind] weapons. Terezi opened up her [canekind] and stood back to back with Vriska, who held her eight [dicekind] in one hand. Thunder suddenly boomed and rain cascaded from the sky in great torrents. The flash of lightning that happened a split second after lit up the most horrifying piece of décor yet. A grotesque wolf's head was mounted to a thick piece of wood and hung over the staircase that lead to the upper floors. It glared down at the twelve trolls, who all shivered under its menacing red eyes.

Tavros looked up and groaned. "Great," he muttered. "Look at all those stairs."

"One step ahead of you, Pupa," Vriska smirked. She had walked away from the group with Terezi at her heels and had found an elevator. "Pray to Gog this thing works," she said and threw the lever. The elevator moaned and complained, but it brought itself down to the first floor and opened its doors. Tavros's eyes lit up at this.

"Gee, thanks Vriska! That was awful nice of you!"

She punched him square in the face. "Don't get used to it, fucksack," she jeered. "It was awful. Not nice." Tavros was quite stunned. He twitched slightly and blinked stupidly as a bruise blossomed on his jaw bone.

The main doors suddenly slammed shut with a deafening bang. Eleven of them jumped and turned to the doors. Gamzee had shut them and reapplied the lock. "Don't want you motherfuckin' getting the easy way out like it was served on some fuckin' silver platter," he said to Eridan with a wicked grin.

Eridan returned the twisted smile. "Fair enough," he said. A rumble of thunder echoed in the halls of the house. The other trolls were beginning to look around and roam about the main hall. They looked down the hallways that lead off to the other parts of the fun house in apprehension. Aradia stood exactly where she had when she entered: in the dead center of the atrium with Sollux at her side. Her gaze was fixed straight ahead, a faraway look in her eyes. Though she didn't seem to be looking at anything, it was in Gamzee's general direction that Aradia focused.

Karkat noticed Aradia's odd behavior with a quirked eyebrow. What was her fucking problem, anyway? She looked at Gamzee with such terror and hatred that it was almost like she was trying to murder him with her mind from across the room. Sollux grasped her arm and whispered something to her. She didn't respond.

"Alright all my fresh and fine troll brothers and sisters," Gamzee said, breaking the silence. "I put all our names in this empty bottle a' Faygo." Everyone gathered around him and looked at the bottle. There were twelve little rocks at the bottom, each with the trolls' respective symbols etched on the surface. "I'm going to pull each of 'em out and form some motherfuckin' teams so we can explore this sweet ass house like it's nobody's business." He turned the bottle upside down and shook the first three out.

"First team... Equius, Feferi, Sollux." Each member of the team looked at each other and nodded. "You guys look all through the base floor and find some wicked shit down there."

"Second... Kanaya, Vriska, Tavros." Karkat saw the irony in the selection of the three that happened to share the same quadrant. "I'm gonna pity your crippled ass, Tavros. You motherfuckers look on this floor. See if there's any motherfuckin' secret passages or what else, you feel me?"

"Third...Nepeta, Terezi, Eridan." The two girls looked pleased with the selection. Eridan couldn't have looked more like a disgruntled bird with fish fronds and gills. "Second and third floor's all you motherfuckers," Gamzee said. His eyes lingered on Eridan for a little bit. "Find me something so tight, it'll make your head spin like a record with the freshest beats and rhymes." Eridan rolled his eyes and snorted.

Gamzee's smile, if possible, widened. "And then there were three motherfuckers," he said, turning to Karkat and Aradia. She looked absolutely mortified at the thought of traveling with them, but she didn't say a word. "We're gonna skip the fifth floor like a beat and go right to six. We got the motherfuckin' attic."

"Now let's have some fuckin' fun," Gamzee said in a hushed voice as he walked up the first flight of stairs. "Honk, honk."

* * *

Karkat, Gamzee and Aradia reached the entrance to the attic after making their way through the twisting labyrinth of the fun house floors. The attic door was attached to the ceiling and had to be pulled down by a string. Gamzee took hold of it and yanked. Dust erupted from the entrance like volcano ash. It coated the trolls, who coughed and hacked as the ancient dust caked their mouths and windpipes.

"I'll go scope this fucker out," Gamzee said and climbed up the ladder. As soon as his foot disappeared through the hatch, Aradia turned to Karkat and shoved him against the peeling wall.

"Listen to me, Vantas," she whispered. "We do not have much time until he returns. There will be death in this house tonight. The souls of the dead have whispered to me and warned me of the bloodbath that will occur. You must be cautious."

Karkat shifted uncomfortably under her piercing, unblinking eyes. "Why don't you tell me and Gamzee at the same time?" He asked in a low voice. "He'd probably want to know to. I mean, if someone's gonna fucking die then we need to—"

"I have my suspicions set on Gamzee," she said. "He will be the cause." Aradia quickly moved away from Karkat and stood next to the ladder at the sound of footsteps approaching from above. Moments later, Gamzee poked his head upside-down out of the entrance.

"Come on up, my brother and sister, the attic air is finer than the most divine miracle," he said. Then his gaze shifted to Karkat, who was slumped on the floor. "What're ya doin' on the floor, motherfucker?"

"I slipped on the disgusting slime of your putrid words, fuckass," Karkat snapped.

Gamzee laughed. "Thanks pretty fuckin' rad, brother."

"Shut the fuck up."

"Then get your asses up here and I motherfuckin' will," Gamzee said. He offered his hand to Aradia. "Lady-trolls first?" Thunder rolled and lightning flashed, illuminating his grinning face.

She slapped his hand away and ascended the ladder with no problems. The clown troll snorted and withdrew his head back into the darkness of the attic. Karkat remained seated and frozen on the floor. Aradia had said that there would be death... and Gamzee would be the cause. But why wouldn't she want to tell him? It's not like he— _Wait._ Karkat's eyes widened in horror. _No. Gamzee would be the cause? As in...? The _cause, cause?_ Fuck no. He wouldn't! Gamzee wouldn't hurt anything, the troll hated violence. Right? He wouldn't dare..._

"Karkat! Get your motherfuckin' dumb ass up the ladder and in this fuckin' attic!" Gamzee yelled from the next floor. Karkat snapped out of it and stood. _Gamzee wouldn't..._ He thought as he climbed the ladder. _Aradia was wrong._

Karkat emerged into the attic and coughed as more dust flew about the air. Three large, floor-to-ceiling, unboarded windows adorned three of the walls. Box upon box of old shit was piled everywhere. Probably disused props and stuff that was used in the attraction part of the fun house. There was a whole box filled to the brim with clown horns. Karkat knew this because Gamzee had found it, opened it, and was happily putting the revolting things into a pile in the middle of the floor.

Karkat snorted in distaste and walked to the other side of the attic. He flinched and hissed when drops of water dripped from the holes in the ceiling and down his shirt. Fucking water. He held his candle aloft, looking along the many boxes and mechanical objects covered in tarps that the light danced over. Karkat reached for one of the tarps that was stained with a nasty green fluid. _Please let it be grub sauce..._ He thought as he was about to close his hand around it.

_**HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK!**_

_**CRASH! **_

_**SHATTER!**_

"_E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e!"_

The blood curdling scream that pierced the night like a dagger would haunt Karkat for the rest of his days. It was the first scream. The first of many.

Karkat rushed back through the attic to find Gamzee stomach down on the floor, leaning out the shattered window with his hand out stretched towards the ground. The lightning lit up his face, where an expression of horror and disbelief sat as painted as his makeup. The clown horns were strewn everywhere; it looked like Gamzee had tripped. And Aradia—

No!

Karkat's heart halted and he ran to the window and looked down through the storm. A cry of anguish escaped his lips as he saw, laying on the ground five floors below in a pool of ever growing ruby, the body of Aradia Megido.

"_...There will be death in this house tonight..."_

"_...warned me of the bloodbath that will occur..."_

"_...I have my suspicions set on Gamzee..."_

"_...He will be the cause..."_

"_...suspicions set on Gamzee..."_

"_...He will be the cause..."_

"_...Gamzee..."_

"_...death in this house..."_

"No... Aradia..." Gamzee whispered in a hoarse, grief-stricken voice.

"_...death in this house..."_

* * *

_I should've listened. _

_I really should have._

_Damn my pride._

* * *

In seconds, Equius ripped the boards off the back door. He kicked it open and the moment it was ajar, Sollux flew out and looked around. When his dual-colored eyes landed on the body, he howled in unbearable sadness. The other trolls came out as well and looked at what had happened. Feferi covered her mouth in shock and buried herself into Eridan, who wrapped his arms around her and let his tears flow. Vriska just stared, all eight pupils wide. Terezi and Nepeta couldn't look. Nepeta held onto her friend's arm. Tavros held Kanaya's hand; but it looked like he needed the support more than she. Equius sat on the wet ground and put his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

Sollux had run to her side, knelt in her blood, and held her in his arms. Aradia's body was twisted and broken; her limbs jutted out at odd angles. Blood had trickled in several streams out of her mouth and dribbled down her chin. And on her face, her ghostly last expression: realization mingling with sheer terror. Sollux sobbed and sobbed and cried out her name, begging her to come back. But her eyes didn't flutter with recognition at the sound of his voice. Her eyes were glass, glazed over with nothing but death, unseeing and unknowing.

"How did this happen?!" Sollux screeched and vaulted to his feet. Aradia's blood was all over him. His eyes sparked madly with red and blue electricity. Thunder crashed and lightning seared across the sky as the rain continued to pour. "Why did this happen?!"

"Sollux..."

Everyone turned to see Gamzee standing in the doorway. He lifted his head and looked at the infuriated, grieving troll. Tear tracks carved trenches through his clown makeup, revealing the gray skin below. Gamzee looked right into Sollux's eyes and pleaded with his own. "Sollux... I'm... I'm so sorry... It was all... all my fault." No one had ever heard Gamzee speak this way. Coherently and without profanity. "I tripped over stuff in the attic and I fell into her. She... She stumbled back and... the window..." Fresh tears were let loose. "It was right there. I'm sorry, Sollux!" Gamzee said as he walked towards him. "I tried to save her, I tried! But I couldn't reach her... I felt her fingers for just... just a second before..." He was right in front of Sollux now. The latter's eyes were letting loose broad arcs of red and blue enraged electricity. Gamzee covered his face and sobbed. "Dammit, Sollux, I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I was... so... s-so close! But I j-just wasn't fuckin' f-fast enough! Gog, I..."

Sollux laid a hand on Gamzee's shoulder. His eyes were slowing down now and mustard yellow tears dripped from behind them. "You tried. And... It... It was an accident," Sollux murmured. Gamzee looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "You gave it your best shot, brother. I'm just sorry this happened. She..." He stopped and couldn't go on.

"...had so much more," Gamzee finished.

Sollux nodded. "Yeah," he replied hoarsely.

Karkat felt a deep sorrow burning in his chest the longer he looked at Aradia. She couldn't just be... gone. Not Aradia. She couldn't just _die._ Karkat tore his gaze away from the body and saw Equius talking to Gamzee apart from the group. They spoke in low tones and were right in the other's face. Equius kept pointing at Aradia's body and making a gesture that looked like one that meant: "I demand to know!" But Gamzee... was back to being Gamzee in almost a split second. His face was calm, serene, and utterly—dare Karkat even _think_—amused.

Karkat suddenly felt a throbbing pain on the back of his head. He reached for the spot and felt a bump beginning to form. A rock lay at his feet. "Snap out of it, fucktard! And come help us!" Vriska shouted at him over the thunder. Karkat bit back a retort and when to help carry Aradia's body inside.

* * *

They laid her in the atrium, on the raised platform where the MC would've stood. Her eyes closed, her arms folded over her stomach. Sollux sat alone next to her, head bowed. Kanaya, Eridan and Gamzee stood in the center of the room, talking. Karkat strained his ears to listen.

"...even go on with this pathetic endeavor?" Kanaya asked in an exasperated voice. She meant the bet.

"Man, it might not even be motherfuckin' worth it to—"

"No!" Eridan hissed, jabbing a finger in Gamzee's chest. "I have my honor to uphold! While that might not be important to any of you, low-blood or not," he growled as he looked at Gamzee with rage, "it is important to me. We shall stay. And we shall be even more cautious than before." He got out of Gamzee's personal bubble. He smoothed his hair and adjusted his cape in a very dignified way. Then he turned and walked away, yelling over his shoulder, "No one else will die tonight!"

* * *

_Oh, Eridan, you foolish fish. _

_If only you knew how wrong you had been._

* * *

**And there you have it! Do you understand the naming of the chapter now? One troll down, nine to go. Keep those reviews coming! I live off that feedback! Many thanks go to Jch1000 for ideas on the deaths of the trolls. Her ideas will be put to very good use in the future. **

***steeples hands and laughs evilly* HoNk HoNk MoThErFuCkErS. SeE yOu NeXt TiMe.**


	4. Sounds

**Part 4 - Sounds**

_Think of the most horrible sound you've ever heard. _

_I can guarantee that there is one sound I can mention that outweighs that by millions._

_And I'll bet that your first guess as to what it could be is completely wrong._

* * *

The second scream of the night was drawn out. High pitched. Horrified. Betrayed. Then it became choppy. Varied volumes. All of them going down. Then there was nothing.

Vriska sat straight up and looked around. "The fuck was that?" She demanded, her fear slipping into her voice. "Someone want to explain that scream?" Vriska fixed everyone with her eight pupils with menace. "Wait," she said, her voice dropping. "We're missing a few."

"Equius and Gamzee... They left a while ago," Tavros said. "They uh... They went... upstairs."

"But that still leaves two of us missing!" Nepeta said, counting off on her fingers. She placed her tongue between her teeth and screwed up her face in concentration as she carefully counted again. "Sollux isn't here either!" She exclaimed after she looked at everyone's faces in turn. Kanaya patted her on the head as if to congratulate her.

Vriska rolled her eyes. Nasty. "I don't think any of those guys make that kind of sound, fuzz-for-brains," she snapped. "Unless Equius's balls dropped off, which actually if very likely to—"

"No!" Eridan yelled. He jumped to his feet and searched the atrium wildly by turning around and around. "No, no, no! Where's Feferi?!" He demanded. The temperature of the room dropped several degrees as they put two and two together. "Karkat, Vriska, with me! The rest of you, arm yourselves and wait here!" Eridan shouted as he bolted up the stairs. Karkat grabbed his [scythekind] and Vriska her [dicekind] before they followed him up the stairs to the fourth floor.

As they reached the top of the stairs, they ran into Eridan, who stood stock still in the door way of the fourth floor hall. Karkat crashed to the floor, landing in a puddle of moisture. He looked up and saw the little drops falling from a pooling point on the ceiling. _Damn fucking ceiling's leaking all over the place! _He thought savagely. _Wait. This is the fourth floor. It can't be leaking! Unless..._

"What the fuck, you stu... pid..." Vriska's annoyance faded from her voice as she saw the expressions on his face. Disgust. Anger. Fear. She followed his gaze and gasped sharply. Karkat looked up and saw it. The entire hallway was painted with dark blue blood. Smeared all on the walls and across the floor, becoming more concentrated as it lead to the end of the hall. Where rested Equius Zahhak. And when it is said that he rested there, he did in fact, rest there. A noose had been fixed around his neck and tied to the light fixture above him. But then the rope had been cut. And his head had been removed from his body. It lay several feet away, still dripping. And not just from the neck. Two large holes on his head were stained blue from all the blood. Flecks of bone were laying on the carpeted floor near his head. Equius's horns had been ripped from his skull. Vriska put a hand to her mouth and leaned over a vase. Wherein she vomited several times.

**(...honk...)**

"I think..." Eridan said in a shaky voice, "...I am beginning to figure out what's going on here..."

"No—" Vriska threw up again. Eridan reached over and held her hair out of the way. Karkat wiped the blood from his shirt, only to realize that he had mistaken its color in the low lighting. But as the hallway was illuminated by a flash of lightning, he could see it now. Mustard yellow.

"Eridan..." He whispered in a horrified voice. He looked back to the ceiling. "Eridan, we need to get upstairs. Now." When the fish-troll asked why, Karkat simply pointed to the ceiling. Eridan paled and agreed. "Vriska," Karkat said as she walked out of the fourth floor landing to lean on the banister of the stairs. "Vriska, go downstairs. Tell everyone what happened. Then bring Kanaya back up to get Equius. Eridan and I are going to look upstairs."

It was then she noticed his shirt. Her eyes went wide. "That's—!"

"Gogdammit, hurry up, Vantas!"

"Go now, Vriska!" Karkat growled and ran after the Prince. "So what did you figure out?" He asked as they ran to the stairs.

"Who the killer is," Eridan replied as they took three stairs at a time.

"The _killer?"_

"Yes," Eridan took out his [wandkind] as they reached the fifth floor. "I don't think Aradia's death was an accident." Karkat's eyes doubled in size. Before he could say a word, they heard it. He and Eridan froze. "D-Did you hear that?" The fish troll demanded in a whisper. Karkat nodded.

**...honk...**

"Fucking shit..." Eridan whispered. "Go, go, go!" They both rushed into the fifth floor, where they could only run forward through corridors that twisted and turned back on themselves. "C'mon, Karkat, move your ass!" It seemed like they ran back through the same hallway at least five times. The same pictures of sneering, bloody trolls glared at them as they tried to find their way through the fifth floor. All the while, the distant sound of a horn would occasionally sound from somewhere behind them. Karkat rushed down the hall after Eridan and tried to look for a way out of this stupid maze. There! A different hall! Dammit, and this wasn't even a maze at all. This hall was right next to the entrance. It was all a mind trick. Fucking hell, he hated mind tricks. This new hall went—

NO!

Karkat skidded to a halt and looked down the hall in horror.

"Vantas? Vantas, where are you? KARKAT?!"

"ERIDAN GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!" Karkat shouted.

The Prince came back from up the hall and looked extremely relieved. "Dear Gog..." He huffed, doubling over from lack of air. "For a second I thought..."

"Look."

Eridan looked.

Laying spread-eagle in the middle of the hall was Sollux Captor. Bludgeoned to death by some sort of blunt object. The two trolls walked into the hall to get a closer look at their friend. His head had been smashed many times. There were large flat areas, several of his teeth were missing, and his arms looked broken. There were four holes in his head where blood was caked and—

"Oh Gog..." Karkat whispered. "Those aren't just holes..." He was very close to regurgitating now. Sollux's horns had been ripped off, too. Eridan winced as he realized it as well. He walked over to Sollux, bent down, and closed his eyes. Karkat sniffed as his own ruby tears fell from his eyes. "It's okay, Sollux," he whispered. "You can be with Aradia now." He looked away and wiped his eyes. That's when he saw them. The footprints. Two sets. Someone who wore very large shoes and the other wore small water shoes. Karkat looked further up the hallway, where the footprints, trailing Sollux's blood, led around the corner to another part of the fifth floor. Right before the prints turned the corner, another color mingled with the yellow that was fading out. Karkat gripped his scythe and stepped over the puddle of Sollux's blood. He followed the prints and bent down to look at the new color.

Purple.

He vaguely heard the sound of Kanaya and Vriska talking to Eridan. They must be gathering Equius and Sollux's bodies. Karkat shut them out and swallowed. Then he slowly looked around the corner.

It was just cruel. Slumped against the wall with her horns missing and multiple stab wounds across her whole body was Feferi Peixes. A puddle of her coveted tyrian purple blood pooled around her. It wasn't that she had been just stabbed. Feferi's throat had been slashed, her torso mutilated, and words carved deeply into her arms and legs. The same word. Over and over. _WiTcH_. Curtains of blood cascaded down her head, face and shoulders from when her horns had been brutally torn from her skull. Karkat noticed that the trail of blood drips grew from just those drips to large rivers to the faint outline of a troll body dragging itself across the floor. Her hand prints were plastered all over the walls and floor and deep gouges were cut in sections of the wood. Karkat looked at her hands. Each of Feferi's fingers was raw and bloody from trying to claw her way away from her murderer.

"Equius and Sollux were taken downstairs."

Karkat jumped and spun around as Eridan walked over to him. "Vriska and Kanaya are going to put them next to Aradia on that raised area. Gog, I can't believe this..." He ran his fingers through his perfectly styled hair. "What are you doing? Keeping watch? We should be okay for the moment," said the Prince, "I haven't heard the noise for a little while, have you?" Eridan looked at the smaller troll with annoyance. "Hey! I asked you a question!"

"No! No I haven't..." Karkat said, gripping his scythe with sweaty fingers.

"Right," Eridan said, looking him up and down in confusion. "Well, only way to go is forward. Let's—"

"Eridan wait," Karkat pushed the fish-troll back and held him back. "We should find other way to go."

"Why? Is that a dead end?"

"N-No..."

"Then let's go."

"No, you can't—!"

"Ex-_cu_-se me? I _can't?!_ I am royalty, low-blood! I will do as I please!"

"Eridan please just listen!"

"Out of my way, Vantas!" He hissed and shoved Karkat against the wall.

Eridan walked around the corner and made a sound like a dying animal. He dropped to his knees and gasped over and over, unable to do anything but hyperventilate and cry. "F-F-Feferi..." He managed to choke out. "N-No... No. No! _Feferi!_ FEFERI, NOOOOOO!" Eridan crawled over to her, his hands and knees soaked with her blood. "Why?!" He screamed. "Feferi, oh my Gog, no, no, no, no!" Eridan pulled Feferi into his arms and held her, rocking back and forth while moaning in absolute misery. He kissed her face again and again as he wiped the blood away. Then he began to shake in a grief driven fury. He threw back his head and bellowed, "GAMZEE MAKARA!" His eyes were blazing with fire as tears streamed down his face. "I WILL MURDER YOU WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HER!" Eridan vowed before he dissolved again into agony-filled sobs and held Feferi closer.

After what must've been an eternity, Eridan stopped crying. His face became quite neutral. He stood and removed his billowing cape. Then, taking great care, he wrapped his love in the cape and picked her up. Kissing her softly on her cold lips, Eridan cradled Feferi close to his heart and walked back through the halls, down the stairs and into the atrium with Karkat at his heels.

Just as he took his last step down from the staircase, Karkat felt his heart drum quicker as he listened, trying to figure out if he really had heard it again.

_...But all I could hear was the worst thing ever to grace my ears. It had never terrified me more than it did in that moment._

_Silence._

* * *

**Well, that was shorter than I thought. But I needed to post this and study for my midterm testing. **

**Oh boy... Lots of Eridan/Feferi angst there. This is one of my very favorite ships (no fish pun intended) and I hated to have to destroy it. Three deaths in one chapter. Oui vey. The horn removal was courtesy of Jch1000. Thanks very much for that idea, my dear! :o)**

**Four down, six to go. **

**HoNk HoNk MoThErFuCkErS wHo WiLl Be NeXt?**

**{QUESTION: Who, in your opinion, has had the best death scene so far?}**


	5. Fault of No One

**Part 5 – Fault of No One**

Eridan hadn't said a word since he laid Feferi's body down on the alter. He sat in the corner of the room, clutching his cape that was still soaked in her blood and not moving from that spot. Karkat couldn't think of anything to say to him. Fuck, he didn't know what to say. What do you tell someone who has just had the love of their life murdered? 'It'll get better?' No. That's rubbish. It won't get better. Eridan was head over heels for Feferi. He had planned on moving quadrants with her. Something a bit more... red. Karkat didn't know if she would've or not. She and Sollux had been acting very odd around each other, despite the quadrant that he and Aradia were in. Gah, troll romance is something else entirely. The point was that Feferi was dead, so she couldn't make up her mind. Not only dead though, but like the others, she was now completely disgraced. To have one's horns removed was unheard of. If one or both were lost in a fight, that would be considered honorable. But to have them taken from your corpse? Or taken when you were alive by someone doing so out of malice? Excruciating pain and the absolute slandering of one's dignity in one fell swoop. A trolls horns were part of their identity. And Feferi was the heir apparent for the title of Empress. _Empress!_ It just wasn't done, removing the horns of a royal. But Gamzee had. And that made him not only a murderer, but a traitor, a thief, and a blasphemer.

"So. What now, Karkat?"

He blinked and looked at his fellow trolls that had gathered around him while he had thought. Kanaya raised a brow. "Well?"

"Well what?" Karkat snapped. "Do you expect me to know what to do next? I don't have a damn clue. Gamzee has locked us in. He resealed the back door and we have no other way to escape. I don't have all the answers. Gamzee does."

"So take us through the house. Let's find him and get him to let us out," Kanaya said.

"Then we can kill him," Terezi added, gripping her cane with rage bubbling in her blue-green blood. "He's got to be stopped before anyone else dies."

"C'mon Karkat. You're always bitching about how you want to be a leader. We're giving you that chance. Fish breath sure isn't going to do it," Vriska said, crossing her arms over her chest. "So pull up your big-troll panties and get on with it.

Karkat thought a moment. Him? Leader? It was a dream of him... It couldn't hurt to give it a shot. "Alright," he said, "I'll do it. Let's start on this floor. I think that the elevator would make too much noise. Gamzee would find us easily. We'll find a way to get you to the upper floors, Tavros," he said with a nod to the paralyzed troll. "Who's left now?" Karkat stood and looked around. He counted off the trolls in his mind as he saw their faces. Tavros, Nepeta, Vriska, Terezi, Kanaya, Eridan, and himself. And of course, Gamzee. "We'll travel in a large group. The more trolls, the less likely for us to get separated. Everyone grab a troll to keep track of," Vriska and Terezi went together, Tavros and Nepeta, and Kanaya dragged and furiously brooding Eridan over to the group. Karkat was the third troll for Eridan and Kanaya.

"Which way first?" Kanaya asked as she gripped her chainsaw tightly. Karkat looked up and down the main halls. Each was more intimidating and frightening than the last. A flash of lightning lit up the halls and made shadows waltz along the wall. Karkat grabbed one of the candles and nodded his head to the left; the trolls started up the hall.

**(...honk...)**

It was filled with dusty, covered furniture. Wind blew through the hall, chilling the trolls to their bones. The light of the candle flickered and made the hall dance as they walked slowly down it. The faint squeak of Tavros's wheels where the only sound in the lonely hall other than the wind. It was reassuring to Karkat, as he knew that the bull-horned troll hadn't been picked off by Gamzee.

Speak of the devil, as the phrase goes, and he shall appear.

**...honk...**

Everyone froze. It wasn't that far away. "Stay close," Karkat whispered. His heart thudded in his chest as he tried not to think about anything else but the sound of Tavros's wheels.

**squeak-squeak... squeak-squeak...**

**honk**

Karkat felt little beads of sweat form along his brow, despite the chill.

**squeak-squeak... squeak-squeak...**

He felt a hand grasp his. At quick glance, he saw it was Terezi's. Though his heart soared, he couldn't keep it from beating out of fright as the sound of the horn got closer and closer.

**honk**

**squeak-squeak... squeak-squeak...**

**honk honk**

"Faster, move faster!" He hissed as the horn grew nearer. The trolls began a slight jog around the haphazardly placed covered items. The eyes of portraits stared after them as their shadows followed their owners without hesitation.

**Honk**

**Honk**

"He's right on top of us!" Nepeta whispered in horror as she fought to keep up with the rest of them. Her eyes grew wide. "Stop! Everyone stop!" She skidded to a halt.

"Why?" Vriska demanded as they slowed and didn't look back at her.

"L-Listen..." Nepeta whimpered and stood next to them all.

**HONK**

**HONK**

**HONK**

"Which is why we need to run!" Karkat barked as he made to grab her arm.

"No! Don't you understand?" Nepeta cried, as tears streamed down her gray face and she pulled her arm away from his reach. "It's staying in one spot! What else do you hear?"

"I do not hear anything—" Kanaya broke off as she realized what Nepeta meant. Karkat felt his insides turn to ice as he realized it too. The squeaking of Tavros's wheels was no more. Just the continued honking that stayed at the same volume. Kanaya turned around and her mouth hung open. "Look," she breathed.

Karkat whirled around and saw, a few feet back from where the trolls stood, a terribly terrified Tavros sitting very still as Gamzee stood behind him, stroking the seated troll's mohawk and honking a bloodstained horn. Gamzee's shirt was splattered with red, dark blue, mustard yellow, and light purple splatters. Karkat saw Eridan tense beside and grip his wand tightly.

"Surprise, motherfuckers," Gamzee's smile was brightened by a flash of lightning. It also showed another gruesome sight. The horns of all the dead trolls were strung on a line and tied around his neck. Like trophies.

"Gamzee, you son of a bitch!" Eridan roared, the first words he had spoken in over an hour. Thunder cracked outside as rain lashed the windows. He glared at the clown with pure hatred rolling off him in great tidal waves. "How dare you de-horn a royal! How _dare _you lay a hand on her! How DARE you harm any of us!" He shouted. "It was you from the very beginning, wasn't it?! You tripped Aradia and she fell to her death! Equius suspected you, so you took him upstairs to kill him!" Spit was frothing on his mouth as he ranted and raved.

"And Feferi took Sollux upstairs to try and console him," Karkat growled, as he began to figure things out as well. "They must've seen you, so you wanted to get rid of all the evidence! So you murdered Sollux where he stood. And when Feferi tried to get away, you just kept slashing at her. And she screamed, hoping we would find her—"

"—But we were too late!" Eridan finished as tears cut rivers down his face.

"And you're going to pay for what you've done!" Terezi shouted, brandishing her cane out in front of her like a sword.

"G-Guys... Don't make him angry..." Tavros pleaded as he sat sweating bullets under Gamzee's hand. "P-Please... Just..."

"Honk—" Gamzee sharply yanked upwards Tavros's left horn until a sickening crack was heard. A spurt of brown blood shot from his head; the horn was free from the skull. Tavros screamed in absolute pain. Vriska turned and threw up. Terezi recoiled in shock. Kanaya clutched Nepeta, who burst into tears. Eridan and Karkat hissed in anger and horror. Gamzee pulled up on the right horn until both were now separated from the seated troll's body. "—honk—" Tavros leaned over and threw up a large amount of blood. Gamzee pushed him out of his chair and he crawled towards Karkat and the others, gasping and reaching out his hand as his blood gurgled in his throat. Nepeta leaned forward to take it and pull him to safety, but Gamzee was quicker. He jumped onto Tavros and in one swift movement, snapped his neck. "—motherfucking honk." And just like that, Tavros Nitram was dead.

Nepeta lurched backwards and sobbed horribly. Gamzee looked right up at her and grinned. Then he beckoned with one long, blood-stained finger. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty..." He hissed. She yowled in rage and swiped across his face with her claw gloves. Three long slashes slid across Gamzee's face and purple blood oozed from each cut. His smile didn't falter, he merely laughed. "Run, you motherfucking bastards!" He yelled. "Run! _Run!_ _**RUN!**_ KYA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! HONK! HONK! HONK! _**HOOOOOONNNK!"**_

**HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK!**

Eridan grabbed Nepeta's arm and dragged her up as Karkat lead them at a furious pace away from the demented clown troll with the bloodied face. "I w-w-was supposed t-to watch o-over Tavr-r-ros!" She wailed as they ran. "And he d-died because of m-m-me!"

"Hush, Nepeta!" Kanaya said. "It wasn't your fault! Just keep running!"

**HONK-HONK-HONK-HONK**

**Honk Honk**

**honk**

* * *

_If only we could've kept running. Kept running and gotten away. If only it could've worked that way. Nepeta, it wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault..._

* * *

**BLARG. I am so sorry, guys. I've just been so busy lately and I've had such a major case of writer's block with this chapter, especially when killing Tavros. He's the troll I represent, Taurus FTW! **

**Anyway, thanks for being patient with me and sticking around. Lots of love for that! Also, I've been getting people messaging me about drawing fan art for this story. Please do! I'd love to see what you make! If you make some, put a link to it in your review and I'll take a look, for sure.**

**Be sure to leave a review even if you don't have fan art. :3**

**HoNk HoNk MoThErFuCkErS :o)**


	6. Swift and Blind

**Part 6 – Swift and Blind**

The trolls kept running. They didn't hear the sound of the horn anymore, but that didn't matter; the run continued. Anything that kept them as far from Gamzee as possible. The first floor, Karkat came to realize, was a giant loop. The left and right hallways that branched out from the main atrium met at the farthest point of the house and doubled back to the entrance. And the further back they went, the more haggard the house became. At one point, in the outermost area of the house from the atrium, there was a large hole that lay yawning in the middle of the floor. It spanned the length of the hall. They would have to jump the wide gap. "There's a hole! Jump it!" Karkat yelled back to the rest of the trolls as they neared the hole. He vaulted over it with no trouble and landed on the other side. Eridan leapt across and did an impressive barrel-roll. Vriska and Kanaya jumped together. The latter landed deftly and with ease. But Vriska almost didn't make it. Her stance wavered on the edge of the hole and held out her arms to steady herself. Terezi and Nepeta were farther behind and hadn't heard Karkat. Terezi tried to make a jump, but she went too early and only made it two-third of the way before she was swallowed by the pit. Nepeta leapt too late and misjudged the size of the gap. She grabbed for the edge of the hole; her fingers grazed it for mere seconds before she tumbled into the darkness after Terezi, screaming as she went.

The four on the other side leaned over to see if they could spy their friends. "Terezi! Nepeta! Are you alright?!" Kanaya shouted. For a sickening moment, there was no response. But then—

"We're okay!" Terezi's voice floated up from the pit. Vriska and Eridan let out sighs of relief.

"The hole is so deep, we can't climb out!" Nepeta cried. "But my leg... something happened to my leg! I can't move!" The pain was evident in her voice. Terezi said that she thought it might be broken. "What should we do?" Nepeta asked.

Karkat and Eridan looked at each other. The former shouted down, "We're going to find a way to get to you!"

"Just stay where you are!" Eridan added.

"Can you tell where you are?" Vriska asked loudly. There was silence as the trolls at the bottom assessed their situation.

"I think it might be the basement!" Terezi said. "I'm not sure though, I didn't go into the basement at all. It looks like we might be in some sort of tunnel system. It was probably for moving the fun house equipment without being seen or something. There might be a ladder or a lift somewhere along it!"

Eridan looked behind him and frowned in thought. Then he turned back to the pit. "Alright, we're going to go look for something like that. Just stay there! Don't even think about moving!"

"We got it, fish breath!" Terezi snapped. "Just hurry your asses up, it's dark and seriously creepy down here!"

The four trolls at the top stood. "Right," Karkat said, "we've gotta find a way down. Be on the lookout for anything that could be a ladder or lift. Look for hidden panels or something like that." They nodded and began walking and looking. Karkat searched every book, pulling at the ones that looked odd and moving weird statues in every direction. They walked for the longest time, until the end of the hall was almost in sight. The archway back to the atrium was another fifty feet ahead. Suddenly, there was a _**click**_ and a _**whoosh**_.

"I believe I found one!" Kanaya announced happily as a section of the wall slid up to reveal a ladder going down. She pointed to a portrait of a deeply proper troll with large spiraling horns. "You just push his eyes in and the wall moves up," she explained. "Right then... Shall we go?" Karkat nodded. Since there were no volunteers, Karkat grumbled to himself as he descended the ladder first.

He jumped off the last rung and into a puddle of who knew what. It splashed up and soaked through his shoes and socks and made the bottoms of his pants wet. He made a face and kicked his feet out to flick the liquid off as best he could. "Watch out down here, there are puddles of water or grub sauce or something all over," Karkat said. Vriska muttered about pipes as she joined him at the bottom. Eridan hissed in disgust and picked up his feet in a very abnormal and hilarious fashion to avoid the puddles. Kanaya jumped right into them, soaking her skirt and Eridan's back as she did. He wheeled around the insult her, but the sound of the wall closing over the ladder-hole made them all look up and gulp. Their light was gone. They couldn't see a thing.

"Okay... Who has a light source?" Vriska asked in a shaky voice. When no one replied, she laughed bitterly and humorlessly. "Oh wonderful. We're completely blind."

"Oh, do calm yourself, Serket," Eridan snapped. "If this was a tunnel system used for moving equipment, then there has to be a light source of _some_ kind. Mostly likely by the ladder," he said. No sooner had he said it when a flash of light emitted from behind them. Eridan held up two electric lanterns triumphantly. "You're welcome," he said in a very aloof manner after giving one to Karkat. Eridan held the lantern aloft and looked in both directions. "Well, if we came down from here and were going that way... then we should go... that way," he motioned to the right. "Follow. And keep close to the light."

The trolls walked warily down the right tunnel, listening with hyper sensitivity. There were several instances when one or more of the trolls thought they heard the sound of a clown horn, but when they did, they kept it to themselves, not wanting to alarm the others. Besides. It was all in their heads. Right? They were frightened and traumatized by the events of the night. At this point, the only thing they wanted to hear was the sound of the front doors flying open so that they could see the first light of dawn. The sound of the horn wasn't _actually _there.

Right?

Karkat suddenly stopped walking and listened. "Wait," he said. "Everyone, stop, wait!" He hissed. They turned and looked at him with horror-struck expressions. "Listen... No, no, it's not the horn... What is that?" He furrowed his brow in confusion and listened harder.

"I hear it too," Vriska said, cocking her head and closing her eyes to focus.

Karkat couldn't be sure, but he would almost swear that it was... crying. He hoisted his latern higher to widen the beam of light. Then he carefully moved forward. Vriska, Eridan and Kanaya followed behind him, treading lightly. Karkat's heart was racing as he scanned the tunnel as best he could. The light only went out so far, and the sound of the crying, no, the _moaning_ was drawing nearer. For all they knew, it could be a trap of Gamzee's. But Nepeta was down here with a possibly broken leg. She could be the one making the sound. But Karkat couldn't suppress the absolute fear that coursed through his veins as he stepped over the dirt in the tunnel. His lantern flickered slightly. He didn't even want to think for a second about finding their way back if it was to go out.

"Mmmff?!"

Vriska screeched in fear at the sudden sound. Eridan yelped and jumped into the air. Kanaya caught him bridal-style in mid-jump and stepped back in alarm. Karkat recoiled and lurched back. Kanaya glared at Eridan and dropped him to the ground. He shot her an annoyed glare, but still looked very much afraid.

"Mmmmff..?" The sound pervaded again. Less demanding this time, it seemed. Karkat lifted the lantern again.

It was Terezi who crawled into the beam of light, reaching out with her hand. She was covered in blue-green liquid. Vriska inhaled sharply. "Please tell me that's just grub sauce..." she begged in a whisper. Karkat dropped the lantern and ran to Terezi. The lantern began flickering even worse, like a strobe light programed to flash at odd intervals. "Terezi! Oh Gog, Terezi!" Karkat gasped and held her in his arms. Her blood seeped through his shirt and was warm against his gray skin. He felt his cheeks grow wet as he looked at her. In the sparking light, Karkat saw why she hadn't spoken. Her lips were bound. Sewn shut with a thick twine. The holes were still bloody and were covered in yellow-green pus. Tears in the skin around her mouth made the holes only slightly larger; she must've tried to scream or cry out after she was sewn. Vriska leaned against the wall and let out a dry sob, hand against her mouth in shock. Kanaya turned away, unable to look anymore. Eridan hissed in anger and sadness; he couldn't say anything coherent.

Karkat took out his scythe and cradled her head in the crook of his arm. Then, slowly and carefully, he cut the stitches binding her mouth closed. He was quiet as he worked, not trusting himself to not yell and scream if he opened his mouth to say anything. Terezi whimpered as Karkat pulled the twine out of each of the holes. He flinched when she made those sounds. They should never have to be made, the sounds of horrific pain. Karkat turned and grabbed a portion of Eridan's cape, then ripped it off. Miraculously, the royal troll let it slide. Karkat began slowly and delicately cleaning the blood and pus from her lips. When he finished, he sat her up and tried to put his arms around her. But no sooner had he done this, that she wrestled against and out of his grip, back onto the hard ground. She spun about in a mad way, looking in all directions, despite that Karkat and the others were right in front of her. All the while, she was making frightened, pained noises and crying out: "Who are you?! What are you doing here?! Speak, damn you! _Speak!"_

Karkat was baffled. "Terezi, what the hell are you going on about? It's us! Karkat and Vriska and..."

But then he saw. He saw what she could not. And everything that she would never see again. With shaking hands, Karkat removed Terezi's red glasses. Karkat couldn't believe it. He took her face in his hands, where they became coated in her blood. Her blood that had and was pouring from her eye sockets like tears. "He... He t-took m-my eyes... K-Karkat... He took th-them..." In the flickering light, he saw actual tears leak from her empty orbitals like little blood-stained waterfalls. Gamzee had indeed gouged out her eyes. Terezi reached up and felt Karkat's face. "K-Karkat... I, I c-can't see y-you anym-more... I can't... can't see a-anyth-thing!" She wailed and leaned against him.

Within Karkat burned an uncontrollable, fiery rage. How dare Gamzee take Terezi's eyes. Forget dare, how _could_ he? Karkat grit his teeth and suppressed what anger he could. Terezi needed him now. He had to control himself. Karkat sat her back up to face his body. "Here," with sorrow throbbing in his entire body, he shut her eyelids for her, "let me help you..." Karkat dabbed away the blood from Terezi's face with another section of the piece of cape he had taken from Eridan and wiped carefully around her sensitive eyes. "Terezi, I'm so sorry..." He said in a mournful tone. "We should've been quicker..." He finished cleaning her off and put her red-lensed glasses back on her face. A crack had fissured across the right lens. But now, of course, it didn't really matter.

"It wouldn't have mattered," Terezi said, looking in Karkat's general direction. "Gamzee... He came out of nowhere only moments after you had left. He tied me up and told me that it wasn't my turn yet. Then he sewed my mouth... and he... he... killed Nepeta..." She broke off before saying, "I don't think she's very far away... I don't remember where exactly..." Karkat nodded towards the tunnel and Kanaya and Eridan took the other lantern to go look. Vriska shuffled over and crouched next to Karkat on her knees. "I had tried to crawl away," Terezi continued, "but Gamzee jumped on me and..." Her eyelids crinkled as she fought back tears.

"You don't have to say it..." Vriska said hoarsely. "It's alright. We know."

Terezi now turned her head to look about a foot away from where Vriska really sat. "Vriska? Is that you?"

The eight-pupiled troll sniffed loudly and wiped her cheeks free of tears. "Yeah... Yeah it's me." Terezi reached her hand out tentatively. Vriska took a breath and shoved more tears away before meeting the blind troll halfway and taking her hand. "I wish I could've protected you..." Vriska's voice cracked and her shoulders shook as she sobbed. "Terezi, I'm so sorry this had to happen to you!"

The latter moved her way over to her quasi-sister and, after fumbling around to find them, took Vriska's shoulders in her hands. "It wasn't your fault, Vriska. None of you. It was none of your faults."

It was then that Kanaya and Eridan walked back. In his arms, the fish troll carried a body wrapped in his cape that was now not only stained with purple blood, but green as well. A limp, extremely pale gray hand hung out of the side of the bundle. Occasionally, a drop of blood would splash to the ground from the tendrils of the stuff that webbed across the fingers. Pale green tears fell down Kanaya's face. She held a red handkerchief to her face and silently cried. Karkat frowned deeply as Eridan laid the body on the ground. He stepped back as Karkat took a fold of the cape and pulled it away.

"I removed the bits that were still stuck in her," Eridan said thickly. "It looked as though he had lifted her up and thrown her onto a bed of upright, rusted metal pieces. She was most likely killed swiftly the moment she landed and didn't suffer." Karkat didn't have to look at her anymore. Nepeta Leijon was just like all the other trolls when they died at Gamzee's hand: bloody and dehorned with a look of terror and agony forever etched onto their faces.

Karkat shut Nepeta's eyes replaced the fabric back over her lifeless corpse. Then he looked away, feeling more lost than he ever had in his life.

* * *

**Oh, this one was so hard to write. I love Nepeta and Terezi... :( **

**There are six trolls remaining: one a murderer, one a survivor, and four on death row.**

**Please review guys! I love it when you talk to me! **


	7. Miscalculations

**Part 7 – Miscalculations**

_I felt a certain closeness to Terezi after she went blind. She needed someone to lean on and I filled that role. Not because I had to, Vriska gladly would've done it. I wanted to help Terezi as much as I could. There was a certain pull that I felt towards her that I couldn't explain at the time. It made my stomach feel like there were worms inside. Now I realize that I wanted to share the red quadrant with her. Of course, now it's too late, but I can't help but look back and wonder. If we had both gotten out, would we have been together? I often wonder, but like all my questions about my life on that night and all those previous, they will never be answered._

* * *

Karkat sat with Terezi on the main stairs of the atrium. He looked out to the trolls gathered there. The three that were living and the six that lay dead on the other side of the room. He felt the need to cry, but he quickly clenched the fist that wasn't holding Terezi's hand. Now was not the time for tears. He would not dare cry. Not after everyone else had lost so much more than he. It came to his shoulders to be strong. He had to take command, like he had promised. He had to be the leader, the big, important troll who could stand against all his fears. But Karkat felt very small and feeble, however, as he looked at the trolls that stood and laid before him, living and dead. He felt as though he had let them all down. That he should've been able to protect them. Regret filled his chest as he felt Terezi squeeze his hand. He was utterly useless as a leader. The troll he cared for most had been mutilated and left in constant pain because he could not move fast enough. Maybe if he had been quicker, he could've protected her from Gamzee. Karkat paused for a moment, thinking that if he had been able to do that, he himself might've been the one to perish at the clown's hand. As unfortunate as that would be, at least Terezi would be alright. Maybe then even Nepeta would still be alive.

Kanaya walked up the stairs to stand in front of Karkat. Her eyes were blank, devoid of emotion. It looked as though she had given up on feeling anything anymore. Close behind her, Vriska and Eridan stood looking very grim. Vriska was poised defencivly, with her arms crossed over her chest; her eyes darted around as a caged animal's would. Eridan remain silent and didn't look directly at Karkat. The caped troll just fixed his eyes somewhere on the floor. "What do we do now?" Kanaya asked in a monotonous voice. Karkat was silent. He didn't know how to answer her. On one hand, they could search for a way out. But with all the exits sealed, they wouldn't be able to get out anyway. Even if they did manage to pry open a door or get out a window, Gamzee would surely hear the noise and come for them. And if not in the house, then as the remaining living trolls ran for the safety they most likely would never reach. On the other hand, they could search for Gamzee and kill him before he did so to them. But was that not similar to poking a sleeping, angry beast and hoping all went well? Karkat had to hand it to Gamzee. He had planned things perfectly. This was of course, if he had a plan at all. The questions involving motives and plans were far too numerous to even consider. It made Karkat's head spin just to think about it.

He looked up at Kanaya with weary eyes and sighed. "I don't know," he said finally. Her face betrayed not a single emotion as she looked at him. "If," he continued, "we could make some sort of plan, form some sort of idea as to—" He froze, hopeful realization dawning on him.

Terezi tilted her head in his direction. "Karkat?" She asked in a wary voice. "Karkat what is it?"

For the first time in what seemed to be eternity, Karkat's mouth twisted into a small smile. "I have a plan," he said.

* * *

"Karkat, I can't do this," Terezi murmured to him as they and the rest of the trolls stood at the window. "Please, I can't. Don't make me..."

"You can do this, Terezi," Vriska said, holding her friend's hand. "I'll be in front, Karkat will be in back. We won't let you fall." Terezi swiveled her head back in the general direction of the shattered window. As it turned out, Karkat had been right. Gamzee had made a very critical error. He never sealed the window that Aradia had fallen out of. Wind howled past the open glass and rain fiercely battered the side of the house. Lightning seared across the sky, lighting the room blue as the thunder shook the floor on which they stood.

Kanaya stood behind them all and gazed out the window with blank eyes. "The storm draws closer," she said. "We must hurry."

"Alright, Terezi," Vriska said, taking a deep breath. "Us first. Karkat will be right behind us, followed by Eridan, then Kanaya." She took the blind troll's hand and lead her to the window. Then she began giving Terezi directions for the feat they were about to conquer.

"There's a ledge wide enough to walk across about three feet in front of you outside the window," Vriska said. "You'll be able to fit three-quarters of your foot onto it if you have your belly facing the roof of the house. At your shoulders, there is a snow-guard that we'll use as a grip to ease our way across. Kanaya found some old sheets of fabric. I'm going to tie it around your waist and then to the rail," Vriska peered out the window, looking over the rail with her vision eight-fold eyes. "There are three parts that connect the rail to the roof. We'll have to stop at each of those points, untie ourselves, and tie the sheet again to the rail on the other side. The walk will probably be about thirty feet to the opposite side of the roof. From there, there's a balcony right below the roof on the floor under us. The jump is about eight feet. I'm bringing an extra sheet to use as a climbing rope. Once there, we'll use our sheets to scale down the drainpipe, one at a time, all the way down to the ground."

Terezi took a shuddery breath. "That's amazing," she murmured.

"It was Karkat's plan," Eridan said as he helped Kanaya find another sheet. "I find it to be quite ingenious for him, despite that Kanaya assisted with several of the details."

"That's very out-of-character of you, giving a compliment" Karkat noted.

Eridan furrowed his brow in annoyance. "It is a very out-of-character night," he retorted in a somber tone. "But I will take that as an acceptance of thanks." Kanaya announced that she had found another sheet for herself. It was a deep red. "Are we ready to start across?" Eridan asked, looking around as he tied his own sheet around his waist and held the other end in his grasp.

"Yes," Vriska said. She stepped out the window and onto the ledge. Carefully, she held her grip on the window frame and looped her sheet around the snow-guard. She tied it and tugged firmly. The guard didn't budge. Then she helped Terezi out and did the same thing with her sheet. Karkat followed, keeping a very close eye on Terezi as they made their way across. The wind buffeted them as they edged along the roof. The bombardment of icy cold rain surely didn't help either. At ten feet in, before they even got to the first place to untie, Karkat's fingers already felt frozen. Just gripping the rail was difficult, he could barely even _feel_ his fingers.

Suddenly, there was a creaking sound.

Karkat looked back just in time to Eridan lose his grip and fall backwards. His sheet pulled taut and he dangled from the roof like a spider. Karkat stretched out as far as he could without losing his own grip and extended his hand. "Reach, Eridan! Reach!"

"I'm trying!" The Prince held onto his sheet and desperately clawed for Karkat's outstretched hand. "I can't reach you!"

"Yes you can! C'mon!"

**crrreeeeaaakk...**

Vriska looked at the shelf they were all standing on in horror. "Get him up and go back! Quickly! The ledge is coming loose! It can't take all our weight!"

Eridan grabbed Karkat's fingers and held on tightly. "Both hands, Eridan!"

He looked at Karkat as if he had grown three heads and a tail. _"Are you mad?!"_

"You have to trust me!"

**crrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeaaaakkk...**

"Dammit Eridan, trust me, for Gog's sake! I won't let you die!"

Eridan grappled with the thought for a split second longer before letting go of his sheet, his life-line, and grabbing hold of Karkat's hand with his other. Karkat felt like his arm, was going to be pulled out of its socket. He wasn't that strong to begin with, and this was insane. His ears picked up the miniscule sounds of his sheet tearing. "Push up on the roof with your feet, Eridan!" Karkat yelled. Lightning seared dangerously close to the fun house. Eridan did as he was told and scuffed his way back onto the ledge. It groaned in protest of the added weight and began to crack.

**CRICK-CRICK-CRACK**

**CRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKK...**

"GO, GO, GO!" Vriska bellowed. Karkat and Eridan shuffled their way back to the window and jumped in. Terezi followed, reaching her hand into the air, hoping for someone to catch her as she jumped through the window. Karkat abliged and caught her before they both tumbled back onto the floor.

**CR-CR-CRAAAAAAAAAAACKK!**

"SHIT!"

The ledge had broken free and Vriska had fallen before she had had a chance to get to the window. Her scream resonated for only a brief second before Eridan and Karkat lunged to the open air and looked over the side of the house. Luckily, Vriska had managed to grab the ledge of floor and hung there, trying to get back up. Karkat and Eridan each took one of her hands and pulled, bringing her back to safety. They all collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily with their hearts zooming a million miles an hour.

"So... Now we're _really _stuck..." Vriska gasped. "That plan couldn't have gone shitter."

"I could've fallen to my death!" Eridan sat up and snapped at her.

"Okay, fair enough. But it was up there on the Really-Bad-Shit-O-Meter," she replied icily. "Do you and Karkat have any other bright ideas, Kanaya?" Silence. "Kanaya?" She looked around, searching for the troll in question. Karkat's heart picked up yet again.

"KANAYA!" He shouted as he vaulted to his feet. All of a sudden, there was a deafening **BANG!** from somewhere above them. Vriska screamed as Kanaya Maryam's body suddenly flew down and dangled upside down in the window they had just come through. The red sheet was holding her in place and fluttered around her like a grim banner. Her green blood trickled from a bullet wound in her chest up her neck and across her face.

"What was that?" Terezi asked in a high voice. She turned her head in all directions. "Somebody answer me, what was that sound?"

"It... was a gun," Karkat's voice cracked.

"Kanaya is dead," Eridan finished as purple tears fell down his face.

* * *

**Yes I totally stole that death pose from Les Mis. Do I own it? OF COURSE NOT DUMB ASS. THAT CRAZY STORY BELONGS TO VICTOR HUGO.**

**Anywhore, that's that chapter! I suppose I should've mentioned this before, but these updates are going to become a once a week thing. Musical rehearsal and school work is getting to be a bit much, and I sat down for about four hours and wrote this chapter over and over until I was happy with what I made. Not going to lie, I lost valuable study time, but giving you guys this chapter and this piece of information was just as important. **

**PLEASE REVIEW GUYS! IT MAKE ME A HAPPY AUTHOR! :D**

**I'll see you guys next week. Thanks for reading "...and as we say in my hometown, Don't Forget To Be Awesome." –John Green**


	8. Deadly Nightshade

**Part 8 – Deadly Nightshade**

_This... This is one of the hardest moments for me to recall. Not to say that it's hard to recall because I've forgotten. I don't think I shall ever forget this. No. It's hard because I can barely stand to think about it anymore._

* * *

The temperature had dropped considerably. Each time one of the four remaining trolls breathed out, little puffs of mist would exit their lips like pipe smoke. By Eridan's calculations, it was probably around two or three in the morning. If they could make it just a few more hours to sunrise, then they would be able to get out and see that Gamzee was brought to proper justice. Kanaya was laid with the others. Vriska and Terezi, immovable centurions, sat solemnly with the fallen. Eridan was thinking, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. He had assessed the situation over and over, and could see no other logical route of escape. The plan that Karkat and Kanaya had made was flawless save that one miscalculation. Had they gone across one at a time, maybe they would've made it. But they were so foolish and thoughtless. Kanaya had been left vulnerable and had perished because of their stupidity. Eridan growled and sat on the floor. He clutched his head in his arms and rocked ever so slightly. Purple tears streamed down his face as silent sobs wracked his body. But he had turned his back to the others. He would not allow them to see him in such a state. He would not lower himself in such a brutish way. Not here. Not now.

Karkat shivered and held his arms closer to himself. The air was freezing and made thinking a joke. He noticed Eridan sit and hunch himself over, facing away from prying eyes. Out of courtesy, Karkat looked away. He would spare Eridan that small kindness.

"Karkat!" Vriska yelled and stood up in shock. She was looking somewhere over his shoulder. Eridan looked and got to his feet. Karkat was about to turn when—

"Stand the fuck up."

Karkat froze as the cold barrel of a pistol was pressed into his spine. "Gamzee..." Karkat whispered hoarsely.

The gun was repositioned and shoved against the back of his head. An arm twisted around his neck in a semi-choke hold. "I SAID STAND THE FUCK UP, MOTHERFUCKER!" Gamzee shouted in Karkat's ear. Karkat did as he was told and stood, the gun and Gamzee's arm not moving from their positions. "Everybody stand in the middle of the room," Gamzee hissed in an almost inaudible voice. But he didn't need to say it again. Everyone did as they were told. "GET IN A MOTHERFUCKIN' LINE!" He shrieked. Terezi latched onto Karkat's arm and trembled in fear. "So... only four left?" Gamzee whispered now.

"Stop this!" Vriska hissed and stepped out of line, eyes blazing with hate. "Stop it, stop it, stop it now! You hide and you kill and you hide again, like a coward! Stop it and fight! Fight me, damn you! FIGHT ME!"

"YOU WANT A MOTHERFUCKIN' FIGHT, SERKET?! I'LL GIVE YOU A FIGHT!" Gamzee barked. His smile was demonic as he grabbed her by the horns and yanked her out of the line completely.

Eridan was about to move forward and help her, but Gamzee aimed his pistol at him. "You take another step closer," he breathed, deadly calm, "and I'll rip those royal horns from your head and make you lick your own fuckin' blood and skin from the bases of the things. I'll make them," a motion to the other trolls, "watch you shit yourself in fear and vomit your own body back up. Then I'll blow your motherfuckin' brains all over the walls and let you die in a motherfuckin' puddle of your own puke and shit. Get my drift, brother?"

Eridan stepped backwards, shaking like a leaf and wide eyed. He couldn't even speak.

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" Gamzee bellowed and cocked the pistol. He stood up fully, pulling Vriska up higher by only her right horn. She whimpered in pain and clawed at his hands so he would let her go. But he paid her no mind. He didn't even seem to notice the tendrils of purple blood ooze down his hands and into her hair. Against his fragile willpower, Eridan began to cry as he nodded yes and mumbled it over and over. Gamzee clicked his tongue in disgust. "Fuckin' wriggler."

He turned back to Vriska and noticed his hand bleeding. He cackled and threw her across the room by her horn. She slammed into the wall and slid down it. Gamzee's blood trickled down her face as she held her horn and groaned in pain. "YOU THINK THAT MOTHERFUCKIN' HURTS, SERKET?!" Gamzee was suddenly right in front of her and picked her up by the neck. She grappled at his hands as they closed around her throat with disgusting purpose. "You think you know pain, you lying bitch?" He hissed in her ear. "YOU AIN'T FELT NOTHING YET!" Gamzee released her. Vriska fell back to the floor, coughing and sputtering. In one swift move, he took hold of her right horn and ripped it away. She screeched as her dark blue blood cascaded down the side of her face, mixing with her deep cerulean tears. Just as quickly, Gamzee grasped her left horn and repeated the motion. Vriska fell to the ground, howling in agony and holding the two bleeding holes in her head. Gamzee affixed her severed horns to his necklaces of trophies. Karkat turned and was immediately sick.

"I think we're all tired of you telling all your motherfuckin' lies," he was whispering to her again, "so I'm gonna end all that." Gamzee grabbed Vriska and wrestled her into submission, so that he was straddling her and holding her arms against her sides with his legs. Then he took her face in his hands and forced her mouth open. Then from his pocket, he took out a knife. Her eyes went wide as she realized what he was about to do. She struggled against him and screamed and screamed. He grabbed her tongue and raised the knife above him. "YOU! WILL! BE! SILENT!" Eridan covered his eyes just as Gamzee slashed the blade through her tongue and severed it. Blood ran in a torrent from Vriska's mouth as he released her. She was violently sick multiple times, only regurgitating blood and stomach acid. She convulsed several times, twitching and trying to cry out in pain. Gamzee tilted back his head and dropped her severed tongue into his mouth. It was Eridan's turn to be sick as Karkat was again. Gamzee chewed the tongue thoughtfully and swallowed. Then he smiled. Vriska's blood dripped from his jaws as he did.

"See you motherfuckers later," he murmured and threw something on the floor. There was a massive explosion, smoke spewed everywhere and there was a blinding flash of light. When Karkat and Eridan looked back, Gamzee was gone.

And Vriska Serket was dead.

"Terezi..." Karkat swallowed and took a breath. "Terezi, Vriska is—"

"Please. Don't say anything," Terezi said. Tears dripped from her empty eye sockets. "I know."

* * *

**Ugh. I think that was my most gruesome death scene yet. **

**Double ugh. Sorry about the shortness of the chapter.**

**Triple ugh. Double sorry. This is later than I wanted it to be. It wasn't my fault, though. I've had this chapter typed up for a while, but my wifi has been down. And I can't very well post this from my phone. **

**Quadruple ugh. Triple sorry. I hope I didn't give you nightmares or make you ill. **

**Alright guys, thanks for being so patient and putting up with me. I'll see if I can have a bonus chapter up tonight or tomorrow. If I don't, hopefully, it'll be up next week around Wednesday. Oh, just so you know: I will be writing an epilogue, and it will be a separate story altogether. Lots of love to all of you! Thanks for reading "...and as we say in my hometown, Don't Forget To Be Awesome." –John Green**

**Don't even ask about the title of this chapter and why it's called that, I have no clue. XD**


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